Bookmaker Ladbrokes are being investigated by the Independent Betting Arbitration Service (Ibas) over bets that were cancelled by the Ladbrokes trading team.
What happened?
The investigation is centered on three similar complaints from Ladbrokes players over online bets on horse races.These bets were referred to Ladbrokes for referral, something that is commonplace in the world of online betting, and each bet was declined.However, the customers claim that they were given an official bet number, which they say proves that their money was accepted during the process, and after the race, their bets were described as “cancelled”.
The investigation
Reports claim that Ibas have been pondering rh case for some weeks now, but are yet to have reached a conclusion of any kind.If Ibas rules in favours of the customers, it could have a huge impact on Ladbrokes, as it could lead to hundreds of possible complaints from customers who have had similar problems.Cancelled bets are often large in terms of the amount of money wagered, so this investigation could possibly cost Ladbrokes a great deal of money.Paul Fairhead, a campaigner who has helped many players take bets to Ibas, said that the punters had “legally enforceable [contracts]” adding that ““If a bet is declined and the customer is told so, then there is no issue”.Fairhead went on to explain that the issue being investigated by Ibas was specific to Ladbrokes, and as long as other operators were not “doing the same thing” that there would be no issue for any other bookmakers.It’s been a bad period for Ladbrokes, which the company’s Australian website crashing in the run up to the Melbourne Cup, one of the biggest horse racing events in the country, which again, could cost the company a large sum of money.